Why electric car owners in the US are returning to gasoline-powered cars

A new study found out why 18-20% of electric car owners in the United States are returning to gasoline-powered cars. ELECTrek.

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Researchers at the University of California-Davis surveyed just over 4000 families who own or owned electric vehicles in California and found that about 20% of plug-in hybrid owners and 18% of all-electric vehicle owners end up switching back to gasoline-powered vehicles.

This number will be surprising to some, but the focus of the study was the reasons that led people to switch to gasoline again. And these reasons are not surprising.

Researchers Scott Hardman and Gil Tal wrote in a paper published in the journal Nature Energy:

“Based on the results of five questionnaires, we found that the retirement of plug-in electric vehicles in California occurs 20% of the time for hybrid electric vehicle owners and 18% for battery electric vehicle owners. The discontinuation of production is due to dissatisfaction with the convenience of charging, the presence of other household vehicles in the home that are less efficient, the lack of level 2 charging (240 volts) at home, the presence of fewer vehicles in the household and non-male sex. ”

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Therefore, loyalty to battery-electric vehicles is higher than to plug-in hybrids, which is not surprising given that plug-ins were seen as a trade-off technology facilitating the move to all-electric.

The main reason seems to be access to tier 2 charging at home (in the US, 110 volts on a household electrical outlet, while tier 2 charging requires 240 volts), which is the most obvious problem the industry is trying to solve.

Perhaps the biggest consumer benefit of an all-electric vehicle for consumers is the ability to always have a "full tank" overnight without having to go to gas.

If you cannot charge at home for any reason, such as a lack of parking space or a lack of parking with access to charging, which is often the case for apartment residents, it really gets in the way of owning an electric car.

Electric vehicle owners have to rely on public charging stations, which is not so smooth, but charging networks are trying to increase capacity in urban areas to solve this problem.

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The most surprising factor that seems to be driving the return to gasoline is that female electric vehicle owners are returning more often than men.

All of this can also affect the types of electric vehicles people buy.

The study found that people buying Tesla cars are the least likely to go back to gas, while Fiat 500e buyers are much more likely to do so. This is not surprising when you look at the comparisons between both brands and gasoline powered cars in similar market segments.

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